Abstract
NEW RESEARCH REPORT BY MERCATOR ADVISORY GROUP
This report focuses on the current state of the acquiring market and discusses
the market strategy of the industry' s most successful players. The merchant
side of the payment chain until recently has had the reputation in the greater
payments space of being its most overlooked facet, whether by the public, by
the business community, by the financial market, by regulators, or even by the
powers that be within Payments, the card brands themselves. However, as the
bankcard associations make the transition to the public ownership from member
bank ownership, and as large-scale security breaches targeting payment
information continue to attract public attention, the spotlight has turned on
previously obscure territory. As the populace becomes more educated about
what takes place behind the scenes after they swipe their cards, or click
submit, or "tap and go", the attention of private and public investment, as
well as that of government regulators, has been drawn to the general business
of payment processing, the services it entails, and the rules that govern it.
With institutional attention, the public spotlight grows brighter, more
intense, and the business begins to change. The current environment is
arriving and coinciding with organic changes already occurring in the merchant
acquiring market, making this time in particular quite momentous.
The report is 27 pages long and contains 7 exhibits
Report Highlights:
- The merchant side of the payment chain has never before had so much
external attention paid to it. Increased attention brings the potential for
sweeping change, at a time when changes of an organic nature within the
marketplace are already occurring
- The business models of the top players often vary in dramatic ways. Five
core models exist, as well as limitless variations and degrees to which
certain aspects are emphasized.
- Recent IPO and M&A activity within the broader payments space is having a
repercussive impact on the merchant acquiring industry.
- Merchant attrition, the bane of the bankcard acquirer, has taken on new
dimensions, and new solutions in the form of value-added services have arisen
in attempt to address it and generate fresh revenue streams.
- Two visions of the future of the acquiring market are remarkably clear.
In one, the merchant, the consumer, the acquirer, the network, and the issuer
all win.
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